Latest Read part II

In September I wrote about "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins and I have now read the complete series. I wanted to share my thoughts about the series and my thoughts about it being made into a movie series.

Click here to read my mini-review of "The Hunger Games".

"Catching Fire" picks up a couple of months after Katniss and Peeta return to District 12. Due to the way they won the Hunger Games, rebellion has begun to spark in some of the districts. Katniss is warned to fix things by President Snow. Due to bad luck (or perhaps further warning?), Katniss and Peeta are brought back into the game for the next year. They build allies with a couple of other people until there are only five left. At this point something crazy happens. I'll let you discover it on your own. You will be left with a huge cliff-hanger, so have "Mockingjay" close by.

Without giving away what happens in "Catching Fire," I will briefly sum up the last book. Much of Panem has rebelled against the capitol and Katniss has earned herself the title and responsiblity of Mockingjay, aka the spokesperson of the Rebels. Katniss struggles with following orders and trusting people, leaving her with just few friends. After training and experiencing the other districts, Katniss leads a team into the Capitol for combat.

This is where things start to get strange for me. I could tell you what happens but there are two issues:

1. I don't want to reveal too much.

2. I'm not entirely sure what is true.

Now, that may sound weird but that is just how it really is. I finished "Mockingjay" with a lot of unanswered questions. Collins leads you to believe a couple of things but they are never determined. The climax of the book completely nose-dives and the book is summed up and ends. Don't get me wrong, I loved the book. I was however incredibly disappointed in the ending. You really are left not knowing what happened even though you are told it works out. Strange way to end a series if you ask me. I have concluded that Collins was unsure herself how things would work out, so she just tells you that it does.

Because I know that this is turning into a movie series, it is my hope that things will be explained a little more clearly. However, I typically enjoy the books more than the movie, so I'm not sure my hopes will be met. I am incredibly interested to see who they cast as Katniss. As I have said time and time again, I typically hate when movies are made from books that I love. To prepare myself, I have looked into the rumored potentials and I am happy with most of them. (Let me add here that every list also included Selena Gomez, Kristen Stewart, Miley Cyrus, and Dakota Fanning. I am NOT happy with any of these. DO NOT put a well known actress into this roll. Especially one who is in her mid-twenties. Katniss starts out as 12 in "The Hunger Games". I don't want a 45 year-old by the time "Mockingjay" is made.)

So those are my thoughts. Have you read any of these? What books are you loving right now?

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Latest Read

I just finished reading the first book in a series by Suzanne Collins titled "The Hunger Games". The story takes place in the future, after the world as we know it has been destroyed and the existing North America has geographically changed into thirteen districts and a Capitol which rules over all. After the thirteenth district rebels and is defeated by the Capitol, the president creates the Hunger Games. Twenty-four children, 12-18, are selected to battle each other to the death in an unknown land. There will be one winner who has defeated and outlasted the others who is then rewarded with safety and comfort for the rest of his or her life.
Katniss, our main character, volunteers to replace her younger sister after her name is drawn. Katniss has provided for her sister and mother since her father passed. She travels to the capitol with her male counterpart, Peeta; a now-drunk-former-winner-mentor; and a District Representitive to train and prepare for the games. The games are broadcast for the nation to see.
I'm not going to give any more away but I competely loved this story. It is definitely a different kind of story than what I am used to reading. There is a lot of suspense and action along with romance.
I am very anxious to read the second and third book!

Time Traveller's Wife Review

As mentioned in my last blog, I just finished reading Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffengger. After reading it I rented the film and watched it. I wanted to share a little review of the book/movie and give my opinions.

Time Traveller's Wife is a timeless love story about a time traveller named Henry DeTamble. His genetic mutation causes him to disappear from the present at any given moment and appear either in the past or the future. When he travels, he leaves behind all possessions and arrives at another place in another time. Time travelling has a couple of upsides, such as seeing people who have passed away again or knowing winning lottery numbers before announced, but for the most part it's a curse. Henry resorts to stealing clothes and money when he travels. Sometimes, he visits himself at a different points in his life. And many times when he travels, he visits the same place, a meadow near the home of Clare Abshire.

Clare is six when she first meets Henry, who was in his mid thirties at the time. In the present day, Henry is just eight years older than Clare. Clare meets him in the meadow each time he visits, with a stack of clothes for him, and eventually falls in love with him. They do not meet in the present day until Clare is nearly twenty. Henry, in the present day, has not traveled to the meadow yet and does not know Clare.

The story continues to share the rest of their life together and their struggles. It is written in first person from both Henry and Clare, which gives us the opportunity to know each of them personally and how they each deal with certain scenarios. Time travel plots add an interesting twist to a typical love story. Clare and Henry have similar problems that most couples do but it is amplified and trumped by the fact that Henry is not always around or reliable.

Once immersed in this book, it was hard to put down. Each character is so passionate that their passion either leads to triumph or failure, which leads me to the one thing I disliked about the story. There was no middle ground. Nearly every character was drown in misery because of their passion. I will not go into full detail because I don't want to spoil anything but it's easy to become attached to the characters and it does not always end up in a good way for them.

I loved this story; the characters, the detail, the plot, the outcome. However, the story did not translate well to the film. The actor choice was the only thing that agreed well with me. There were too many things left out of the film, too much jumping around, and had I not read the story, I would be very confused. Actually, Kyle watched it but has not read the story and his opinion consisted of single word descriptions, "Weird. Confusing. Kind of scary."

So, in a nutshell, book: great, movie: bad.